A Lose/Lose-Lose/Lose Situation

Undoubtedly the biggest debate we have in this country right now is the war in Iraq. I obviously know why. Some people think we should carry through with our plans, support our troops and our president, and make our opponents eat our dust for hindering the hope of a democratic government in the Middle East. Others believe that every day we keep troops there we are losing more and more American lives, because of the president’s bad decision to exact revenge on the enemy of his father. Or whatever.
The point of me writing this has nothing to do with what is right or what is wrong, or what we should do when we NEED to arrive at a decision about this matter. The time WILL inevitably come, but that’s not why I am writing this.
I write this to make a few things clear that I think are somewhat muddy in the eyes of this nation. It first occurred to me the other day when I was driving and saw a bumper sticker that said “Bush knew about 9/11 and did NOTHING!”. Now, with my realization that the war in Iraq is not connected to the terrorist attack by Al Qaeda, I say this only to make a hypothetical point. I was seeing this person with the anti-Bush, anti-war bumper stickers now and picturing what would be there had we NOT gone to war with Iraq.
Now first of all, we need to bring up the fact that both Democrats and Republicans thought it would be a good idea to invade Iraq at the time. With the information that was given about the possible weapons of mass destruction, there were very few opposed to it. It seemed that there was a possibility that the United States could suffer another blow from a foreign country, like Iraq, and no one was ready for another 9/11; not in a million years.
I pictured this car, after not going to Iraq and after another attack on the US, having a bumper sticker that said “Bush knew about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and did NOTHING!” It seems just so likely that the same person could have an anti-Bush sticker if we went to war, and an anti-Bush sticker if they didn’t go to war. Why is this? Is it because this person is a hypocrite? Or an unreasonable pessimist? Or could this person just disagree with everything that is done no matter what it is? I don’t think so.
I think this person would really feel that way, and could justify both views. How is that possible?
We, as a nation, have been put in a lose/lose-lose/lose situation. That’s how. It was a lose/lose situation going into Iraq. It’s a lose/lose situation coming out. If we didn’t go in, we could’ve ended up with another 9/11 like attack in our country. If we do go in, well, we know what happens.
If we don’t leave, our soldiers die in what seems to be a useless battle. If we do leave, we lose everything we’ve fought for, seeming to have no respect for those that gave their lives for the cause already.
I don’t know if anyone will actually accept this view because we need to blame someone for all this dying and destruction going on. It is so easy to blame Bush and call him stupid (and make fun of his ears). It’s so easy to blame the Republicans for supporting the war and death, and so easy to blame the Democrats for their lack of nationalism and support for the troops, who are fighting so hard to keep our nation safe and free the poor Iraqis.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t give our opinion about what we should do about the war, afterall, we need to do something. I’m just saying, let’s stop blaming each other and try to make some progress.
If we need someone to blame, (which I believe we do) let’s blame the people in this world that put us in this predicament. Let’s blame the terrorists; the terrorists of Afghanastan and Iraq and Iran and the United States and wherever else they exist. Let’s blame the evil ways of Saddam Hussein and the terror and destruction he brought to his very own country. Nothing we arrive at will work perfectly, it can’t. It’s another lose/lose situation from here, but let’s stop splitting our nation into a segregated Venn Diagram of Blue Democrats and Red Republicans. Let’s find some sort of Purple area and move on. We need to stop destroying our nation from the inside out and build our nation up towards something productive.

Picketers Please

It’s not very often we can make it through a day without driving in town and seeing somebody picketing something. Sometimes it’s the pacifistic anti-war/anti-Americans , sometimes it’s the over-zealous anti-abortionists, sometimes it’s over-caffeinated churchgoers trying to keep us from the depths of hell, and sometimes, when we’re exceptionally lucky, it’s all three, united in some awkwardly obnoxious triumvirate all standing side by side in outspoken harmony. It appears to me that they are trying to use their democratic right to freedom of speech and for that I don’t blame them. If the law says it’s ok then they might just as well use it. What I don’t understand though, is how come they actually think that what they are doing is actually helping their cause. I can assure them… it’s not. I will explain why.
When a person drives by and sees someone standing out by the side of the road, he instantly feels self-confidence rushing to his head. He automatically feels like a better person than those people. This is why so many people, who normally don’t yell out their window decide they feel perfectly comfortable with screaming obscene things from their car towards the picketers. This seems like a natural thing. Some people scream at them, while others just picture themselves pulling over and politely confronting them. After this person has dealt appropriately with his overwhelming sense of superiority, he then comes to the realization that he hasn’t even read the signs that the picketers are holding,… so he takes about 2 seconds to read the signs.
At this point, the driver either agrees or disagrees with what is being displayed. If the driver disagrees with the display, he automatically gets very angry (notice he NEVER thinks once about changing his mind about the subject, which I believe is what the picketers are aiming for). If he happens to agree with the picketer on the anti-war/abortion/fire, he still gets a little angry. He thinks to himself, “Man, these people are just making ME look stupid because I believe the same thing as THEY do!”
I guess what I’m trying to say is that picketing doesn’t do any good. No one changes their mind after driving by, no one thinks to themselves, “Woah, that is sooo true. I’ve never thought about the war/abortion/fire issues before”. Everyone DOES know about these issues, and already has their mind made up about them. I know picketers intentions are good, but they seem to be very uninformed as to how opinions should be delivered. If you want to change someone’s mind about a major issue like the war, abortion, or church, you’re actually going to have to talk to them about it.

What does illegal mean?

Yeah it sure would be great to send them all back, but you can’t ship off 5% of your population. That’s just unreasonable. It is just frustrating to me why nothing is happening about it (other than a bill for amnesty..?). I saw a protest the other day and they assumed that there were several thousand illegal immigrants there. I saw a protest the other day and they assumed that there were several thousand illegal immigrants there. (Yeah, you read it twice)They assumed that there were several thousand illegal immigrants there. Several thousand illegal immigrants there…. That’s PERFECT! Round them up and send them out. They aren’t supposed to be here at all so they certainly have no right to protest here! I don’t get it. I just don’t understand.
I’m confused. Either something is completely wrong with our justice system and nobody sees it or I misunderstand the dictionary when I read the definition for “illegal”. It says “Illegal – forbidden by law”, which is interesting seeing how there are over 12 million illegal immigrants in this country. Who doesn’t notice an extra 12 MILLION people? I know they must be sneaky, I mean they did sneak past our high security border patrolmen (retired volunteers in lawn chairs), but come on, 12 million? If we created the 51st state and let only illegal immigrants live there, it would be the 7th most populous state in the United States. Since most of our immigrants come from Mexico, we could call the new state… New Mexico. Wait, that’s already a state. I have a question, if an illegal immigrant commits a crime, what does that make them? Illegal-illegal immigrant? That’s doubly illegal; we definitely need to export them. Don’t worry, I know that’s not reasonable, obviously two negatives equal a positive. An illegal-illegal immigrant is a legal one.

Come on, Mickey D’s just be yourself.